MOBILE, Alabama – A man accused of trying to kill a police officer who was trying to arrest him two years ago confronted him this afternoon in a courtroom, where the defendant represented himself at trial.

The officer, Detective Michael Sheets, was the first witness to testify at the attempted murder trial of Deric Julian Reese. The detective testified that he tackled Reese after a brief foot chase off of Pollard Lane on Oct. 5, 2010, and noticed the suspect reaching for the officer’s service revolver. Sheets said he got himself on top of the suspect as quickly as possible and grabbed his left arm.

Reese then pulled out a knife with a 7-inch blade with his right hand, Sheets testified. The officer said he grabbed the blade with his hand and bent Reese’s arm toward his ear. He said he held Reese in place until other officers arrived to the wooded spot where the chase had led.

Mobile County Assistant District Attorney Richard Foreman asked the officer if he believed Reese was trying to stab him.

“Absolutely,” he answered.

The prosecutor asked the detective if he believed Reese was trying to kill him.

“At that point, I couldn’t figure our any other reason why he would pull a knife,” he said.

Reese told jurors that as he was pedaling his bicycle on Halls Mill Road that afternoon, he didn’t even notice the officer. He depicted the detective as the aggressor.

“He’s trying to plant the knife on me, and he’s going for the gun,” Reese said in his opening statement. “I just restrained his arm.”

Later, he added, “I’d like to say this was a case of racial profiling, but I’m not saying that.”

Reese is black, and the officer is white.

Sheets testified he noticed Reese on Halls Mill Road because the suspect was weaving in and out of oncoming traffic and was carrying a black bag that seemed like it could be a laptop computer bag. The area had seen a number of laptop thefts, he said.

Sheets told jurors that he grew suspicious when he saw Reese make a sudden, 180-degree turn and start pedaling in the opposite direction. The detective said he saw Reese go into a driveway on Pollard Lane. Sheets said he asked the suspect for his identification and was checking to see if he had any warrants when he noticed a dump truck was blocked by the patrol car.

Sheets testified that he told Reese to wait and that while he went to move the vehicle, the suspect took off running.

During their confrontation, Sheets said, he told Reese that he would shoot him if he did not stand down and that the suspect replied, “You’re going to have to shoot me.”

Reese eventually did drop the knife but then bit Sheets on the shoulder, the officer said.

Officer Stephen O’Daniel, one of two officers to respond to a call for backup, testified that Sheets and Reese were still struggling when he reached them. O’Daniel testified that he used his Taser gun to subdue Reese.

Dressed in a blue dress shirt and black pants and sporting a limp, Reese asked Sheets a number of questions about the lead-up to the confrontation, including whether the officer made eye contact with him on Halls Mill Road and whether the officer had glasses on.

“The knife that I was allegedly supposed to have had, was it subjected to any tests for fingerprints?” he said.

Sheets answered that he was the victim, not the investigating officer and, therefore, did not know.

Reese also asked the witnesses about injuries that he suffered during the altercation.

At times, Reese demonstrated his inexperience in the courtroom. At one point, he attempted to ask Sheets questions about the police report. But Youngpeter cut him off, telling him that it was improper to ask witnesses about documents that they did not personally prepare.

After the prosecutors rested their case, Youngpeter told Reese that he could testify on his own behalf when the trial resumes Tuesday but that prosecutors likely would be able to ask him about his criminal record, which the judge warned would not look good to the jury.